Rebecca Bredow didn't think her child needed vaccinations, but a circuit judge said otherwise, and the Michigan mother was sentenced to seven days of jail time for her anti-immunization stance.
ABC News reported Bredow was sentenced for contempt of court after failing to comply with a judge’s order to get her 9-year-old son’s vaccinations up to date. She had appeared in Oakland County Circuit Court on Wednesday morning.
WXYZ Channel 7 reported she failed to comply with court orders going back to November 2016. Bredow’s opposition to vaccination was part of a custody battle with her ex-husband Jason Horne, who wanted the child to be vaccinated.
Horne was to get temporary custody of the child while Bredow served her time.
This wasn’t the first time a court has sentenced a parent to jail time for failing to get their children vaccinated. An Alberta father, David Stephan, was sentenced to four months in jail while his wife Collet spent three months under house arrest after their toddler died of meningitis, according to HuffPost.
Speaking at the hearing on Wednesday, Bredow said it was not her intent to disrespect the court and that she is not a lazy mother.
“I’m a passionate mother who cares deeply about my children, their health and their well-being . . . If my child was forced to be vaccinated, I couldn’t bring myself to do it,” she said.
Bredow, whose Twitter profile was private but included a link to Michigan for Vaccine Choice, has faced mixed responses from social media users. Some, like Janice Hicks from Michigan and Serene Peters from Brisbane, Australia, were very supportive.
Others shared less complimentary opinions, suggesting she deserves to be jailed.
Bredow has received lots of support from Michigan for Vaccine Choice and the National Vaccine Information Centre who organized a rally for Wednesday, but now that her son is in the custody of his father, it’s expected that he’ll be fully vaccinated.
The mother told the The Washington Post that she’s not against vaccination, although it is against her religious beliefs.
“This is about choice,” she said. “This is about having my choices as a mother to be able to make medical choices for my child.”
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